The Betsy-Tacy Treasury

The First Four Betsy-Tacy Books

About the Book

The first four books in the beloved Betsy-Tacy series are ready to delight a new generation ofreaders—and to bring a grownup generation of readers back to the engrossingstories of their youth. Following the childhoods of Betsy Ray and her friendsin the late 1800s and early 1900s, this handsome anthology collects theoriginal Betsy-Tacy as well as Betsy, Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Forewords by Judy Blume,Esther Hautzig, and Johanna Hurwitz, andillustrations by Lois Lenski, will make readers ofall ages feel at home in the imaginative life of young Betsy Ray as she awakensto the challenges and triumphs of her home in quaint Mankato, Minnesota.

Book Description

There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy’s age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, the moment Betsy meets Tacy, one of the most heartfelt friendships in all of children’s literature begins.

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury brings together the first four books in Maud Hart Lovelace’s classic series: Betsy-Tacy; Betsy, Tacy and Tib; Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill; and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Tracing the girls’ lives from early childhood to the brink of adolescence, Lovelace illuminates their innocent, mischievous fun and their eye-opening adventures exploring the world around them—from the stories Betsy spins from their neighborhood bench and the sand stores they run in their backyards, to their first experiences at the library, the thrill of the theater, and the sight of their first automobile.

Educator and Librarian Resources

Critical Praise

“Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.” —

“I read every one of these Betsy-Tacy Tib books twice. I loved them as a child, as a young adult, and now, reading them with my daughter, as a mother. What a wonderful world it was!” —

“Betsy-Tacy fans never die. They just reread.” —

“Betsy was a high-school junior when automobiles were new...but her problems were much the same as her modern high-school sisters.” —

“Family loyalty and the devotion of friends to one another, which for me are the defining characteristics of the Betsy-Tacy stories.” —

“I am fairly certain that my independent, high-spirited grandmother must have had a childhood similar to Betsy Ray’s…As I read..., I felt that I was having an unexpected and welcome peek into Granny’s childhooda gift to me from Maud Hart Lovelace.” —

“I now realize that one of the reasons I believed I could someday become a writer was because of Betsy’s own infallible confidence that she would be a writer. —

“When I was growing up in the Bronx, I had lots of friends. But the girls I most enjoyed spending time with were Betsy, Tacy and Tib . . . three girls full of good ideas, adventures and fun.” —

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